Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the auxiliary vehicle step art and more particularly to an auxiliary step arrangement that may be bolted to the underside of a vehicle and which auxiliary step arrangement has a step therein movable from a first, retracted position to a second, step position and in which the step is sequentially and automatically locked when in the retracted position and automatically un-locked with each movement between the retracted position and the step position.
Description of the Prior Art
In many vehicle applications it is desirable to provide a step on the vehicle to allow a person to step thereon in order to facilitate reaching various portions of the vehicle. There have hereto fore been proposed various step arrangements that may be mounted on a vehicle to provide the convenient access to the desired portion of the vehicle. Some of these prior movable, auxiliary step arrangements have provided a step that may be connected to the vehicle and may be positionable under the vehicle, if desired, while the vehicle is being driven and extendable from the vehicle when it is desired to use the step. Many of these movable, auxiliary step arrangements have incorporated complex mechanical systems that increased the cost thereof sand/or have required extensive modifications to the vehicles in order to install them. Other step devices have shown systems that, in practice, have not proven to be reliable over long periods of time thereby often resulting in frequent repair or replacement. Still other of such movable steps have not been rugged enough to withstand the heavy use thereof often required in many applications.
In utilization of such auxiliary steps, it is desirable to have the step locked when in the retracted position so as to avoid undesirable opening of the step when the step is not in use and also easily unlocked to be moved from the retracted position to the step position and retained in the step position to prevent inadvertent retraction of the step when it is desired to utilize the step.
Accordingly, it has long been desired to provide a rugged, movable step that is conveniently attachable to a vehicle. Such step should have the mechanism for easily locking the step in the retracted position as well as easily or automatically restraining the step in the step position to prevent inadvertent retraction thereof. It is also desired that such step is comparatively inexpensive to fabricate and is free of complex mechanical components.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a step arrangement that may be fastened to a vehicle and in which the step arrangement is movable between a retracted position in which the step is moved inwardly with respect to vehicle and a step position wherein the step is extended outwardly from the vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a step arrangement that may be fastened to a vehicle and in which the step arrangement is movable between a retracted position in which the step is moved inwardly with respect to vehicle and a step position wherein the step is extended outwardly from the vehicle and in which the step is selectively and sequentially moved from a locked condition in the retracted position to a restrained condition in the step position thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a step arrangement that may be fastened to a vehicle in which the step may be easily moved between a locked, retracted condition to a restrained step condition.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a step arrangement that may be fastened to a vehicle in which the step may be easily moved from a locked, retracted condition to a restrained step condition and in which the components of the step assembly arrangement are rugged construction and free of overly complex mechanical components and which will last for comparatively long times in use.